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State Briefs

ROGERS (AP) – Police in Rogers say a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a threatening message written on a boy’s bathroom stall at Heritage High School.

Police said in a news release that the boy was arrested Monday on a felony charge of communicating a false alarm.

The threat was found Friday.

Details of the message were not released — but police say it was non-specific and did not mention any particular students.

2 killed in separate motorcycle wrecks in Arkansas

BIG FLAT (AP) – Authorities say two motorcyclists were killed in separate crashes on Arkansas roads over the weekend.

The first crash occurred Saturday morning on Arkansas 14 near Big Flat in north Arkansas. According to Arkansas State Police, 32-year-old Justin McCoy of Harriet was driving west on his motorcycle when he crossed the center line and crashed into an oncoming vehicle.

State police say McCoy died in the collision.

The second wreck happened midday Saturday on Arkansas 8 near Fordyce. State police say 53-year-old Terry Barley of Dermott lost control of his motorcycle and crashed.

Authorities say Barley was airlifted to a Little Rock hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Atkins man wins $1 million in lottery game

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – An Atkins man has won $1 million on an Arkansas Lottery scratch-off ticket.

Arkansas Lottery officials announced Monday that James Osborn bought the winning ticket at a convenience store in Russellville.

Osborn won $1 million off a $20 “Platinum Payout” scratch-off game.

The lottery says Osborn plans to add the prize money to his retirement savings.

Calif. officials nab 11 in drug ring bust

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – Authorities in California say they have dismantled a drug trafficking organization that sent narcotics smuggled in from Mexico to communities across the United States.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined law enforcement officials from the Central Valley in Fresno on Monday to announce the bust, which included the arrests of 11 people.

Harris said the group worked with Nuestra Familia street gangs to smuggle methamphetamine and cocaine through San Diego to the Central Valley and then distribute it to states such as Arkansas, Illinois and New York.

She called on legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown to restore part of the $71 million cut from her budget in recent years for such anti-drug efforts.

Cotton: $1.3M raised in first 3 months of ‘14

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton says he’s raised more than $1.35 million in the first three months of the year in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor this fall.

Cotton’s campaign on Monday said it’ll report raising more than $4.8 million since announcing last year he would challenge Pryor. The campaign did not say how much money Cotton would report having on hand for his bid.

The Arkansas Senate race is one of the most closely watched in the nation, with outside groups spending millions on television ads in the state. Pryor was first elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2008 without a Republican opponent.

Pryor’s fundraising numbers were not available Monday. Tuesday is the deadline to file fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Okla. couple sentenced in Ark. kidnapping death

TEXARKANA (AP) – An Oklahoma couple has been sentenced to 60 years in prison in Arkansas for a kidnapping that ended with a man dead in 2011.

U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge says 49-year-old Leslie Larcade and 38-year-old Chrystal Larcade were each sentenced Monday to 360 months in prison without parole in federal court in Texarkana.

The Larcades were charged with kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the death of 45-year-old Shannon Deval Watkins. Watkins’ body was found in August 2011 at Texarkana Speedway with trash bag on his head, a noose around his neck and he’d been stabbed.

The Larcades pleaded guilty in November to the conspiracy charge as part of a plea deal.

Prosecutors allege that the Larcades kidnapped Watkins from Oklahoma to collect a $1,000 bounty.

2 east Arkansas schools receive federal funds

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Two schools in eastern Arkansas have received a combined $6 million in federal School Improvement Grant funds.

The Arkansas Department of Education announced Monday that Wonder Junior High School in West Memphis will receive $3.7 million over three years and Forrest City Junior High School will receive $2.4 million over two years.

Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell says the federal grants will allow the schools to implement new programs to improve academic performance.

The state has classified both schools as “priority schools” because of low performance on state assessments.

The education department says the schools have proposed a number of initiatives, including before and after school instruction planning, Saturday morning tutoring programs and partnering with higher education to highlight careers in science and math.

Arkansas working to reduce wet-weather crashes

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – About two dozen highways in Arkansas are set to receive a new pavement treatment that’s aimed at reducing crashes during wet weather.

The pavement treatment is now used on some Arkansas interstates and is being expanded to other roadways in the state.

High-friction surface treatment focuses on curves and other common sites of fatal crashes. Officials say a thin coating on roadways can reduce the likelihood of hydroplaning and increase skid resistance.

According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, LaHarpe Boulevard in downtown Little Rock will get the pavement treatment. Other areas to be treated include: Arkansas 5 in Garland, Saline, Lonoke and Baxter counties; Arkansas 7 in Clark, Garland and Boone counties; Arkansas 72, Arkansas 102 and Arkansas 279 in Benton County; and Arkansas 65 in Chicot County.